A few months ago I set myself a crafting challenge. I batched up five craft projects that I wanted to complete by the end of the year, and I'm proud to say that I've now completed the final project!
These Christmas fabric mug rugs were a second craft to use up the Christmas fabric that I had in my fabric stash. I really liked the fabric, but I had been struggling to find something to make with it. Last week I made some simple drawstring gift bags, and for these patchwork fabric coasters I used the remaining pieces along with some co-ordinating fabric.
To prep the craft I cut out my fabric into strips and chose a fabric for the backing and some plain cotton for the batting. I'm terrible at cutting fabric neatly so you'll see that my strips don't line up perfectly at all, but I try not to let it bother me!
I made four coasters and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. I love the different colours, and even though they aren't as beautiful as the ones in the tutorial, my sewing machine skills are definitely improving with each sewing project that I try.
This was the final project that I had prepared. I loved this way of crafting, I found it really easy to get on with something when it was all ready to go, and I'm pleased to have found a use for some of the things that I was stashing. I'm definitely going to be doing this again with another set of crafts, I'm thinking ahead to the new year and what I might like to work on next.
I was sent this miniature Rolife craft kit in exchange for a review
I always love crafting for Christmas, and so I was delighted to be given the opportunity to review a Christmas themed miniature crafting kit from Rolife. I chose to build the Christmas Candy Stand, which will make an ideal companion for the Christmas themed Miniature Gingerbread House which I reviewed last year.
The Christmas Candy Stand kit is a two star difficulty kit with a suggested build time of around 2-3 hours. I would say that this is accurate, and I was able to complete most of the kit over an uninterrupted evening. It was certainly a welcome relief after the rather more complicated Rolife Oxygen Oasis kit!
I enjoyed the fact that most of the construction materials in this set are wood and paper, and the kit doesn't contain too much plastic. All you need for the build in addition to the kit contents are two AA batteries for the lighting kit. Although the house is designed to be assembled using the supplied double sided tape, I did find that I preferred to use stronger glue in several places. This will ensure that it survives being packed up and kept in storage from year to year.
Most of the parts in the kit are supplied as wooden sheets, with pieces that need to be pressed out. You need to take care here as some of them are a little fiddly, especially from the thinner wooden sheets. There are also pre-cut paper pieces, stickers, and tiny plastic, wooden and metal components. The smaller parts are packaged inside numbered bags, and it's best not to remove them from the bags until you need them. If you get in a muddle there is a parts guide to help identify individual pieces.
As with many Rolife kits, the first step is to put together some of the smaller elements that will go inside the house. In this case you work on the counter which goes along the front of the shop, and various shelves and display items. This is where you really appreciate all the tiny details that go into the build, even things that won't be easy to spot once fully assembled!
Here you can see the front counter, and the small shelves and display units that will be filled later on. It's a good idea to have a place to store these items until you need them - the upturned lid of the box is ideal.
Next you assemble the walls and roof. These pieces are larger and made of thicker wood to make them more sturdy. This is my favourite part of the assembly, because you can start to get a feel for the dimensions of the finished house. At this point the lamp and wires have been installed underneath the snowflake themed roof, and I love the tubes of sweets along the back wall. They are really cleverly made with printed rolled paper inside.
These pieces are then slotted together to form the main structure. At this point the battery box is also installed and hidden underneath the counter with the wires neatly tucked away down the sides.
Finally the remaining pieces are assembled and everything is firmly stuck into place. There are some lovely details in this kit. The gorgeous little sweet bags are made using some of the plastic packaging from the sticker sheet and filled with little sweets which are cut from a longer section of extruded plastic, it's very clever. There are tiny lollipops made by gluing beads to plastic tubes, and cardboard gift boxes and pouches.
The completed kit is a gorgeous little sweet shop packed full of delicious Christmas treats. It's a great addition to my Christmas decor, and was a real pleasure to put together.
I love how it looks next to the Gingerbread House Miniature Kit, and both kits will be proudly displayed on my sideboard this year!
If you are looking for more Christmas themed crafting kits from Rolife then you might also like these:
Earlier this Autumn I set myself a personal challenge to batch up five craft projects, with the intention of completing them by the end of the year. I'm pleased to say that it's going really well, and I've now completed project number four - some Christmas fabric gift bags.
This Christmas fabric has been in my stash for so long that I can't even remember buying it! I didn't have a project in mind when I did, and so I really wanted to find a use for it that would mean I could appreciate it rather than just having it stuck in a drawer.
I'm not a particularly talented sewing machine user, but one thing that I can make is super simple gift bags. I decided that this was the perfect craft for this Christmas fabric, because it's a useful item that can be brought out year after year. It was also an opportunity to use some of my stashed Christmas ribbon.
I prepared five rectangles of fabric, with co-ordinating cotton and ribbons.
When I came to do the craft it was so easy to get started, it took less than an hour and that included ironing the fabric and remembering how to thread the sewing machine with different coloured cottons! They are super easy to make. All I do is sew a hem along one side for the ribbon, then sew the sides of the bag together. Ribbon is threaded through the hem using a safety pin, and I added a plastic toggle just because I have some in my stash.
I now have five gift bags in lovely Christmas fabric that I can enjoy every year.
Earlier this year I shared some solving tips for one of the puzzles that I had worked on in the Impossipuzzle series - Impossipuzzle Golf Balls and Tees. The other week I came across another in the series which I also had fun completing, and so I thought I'd share it here.
This puzzle is called Impossipuzzle - Beans and Sprouts and it's another double-sided puzzle depicting baked beans on one side and Brussels sprouts on the other.
This 550 piece puzzle was made by Funtime Gifts. The box on my charity shop copy is a little faded as it must be fairly old, I think this range was released in the mid 2000s. There are a few others in the series, with one in particular that I'm still on the hunt for featuring sweets and candies. They are readily available on eBay, so if I don't find it on my charity shop trawls in the near future I will look there!
I think that the difficulty level on the different sides in this jigsaw is more similar than in the Golf Balls and Tees puzzle. However I think that the baked beans side is probably the most difficult side, and this is the one that I decided to do first!
I knew that the only way I could tackle this puzzle would be to start with a thorough sort of the pieces. I used my puzzle trays and sorted into the six main shape types, as well as the edge pieces. Then I started the puzzle by doing the edge, further sorting the edge pieces to help me as I went along. Even though it's double-sided, the two sides are so distinct that this doesn't increase the difficulty of the puzzle.
That was the easy bit done! Then it was time to lay out all the remaining pieces. You really do need a lot of space when you are working on a jigsaw like this. Although the puzzles in this series only have 550 pieces, they are large pieces, so the completed jigsaw is the same size as a standard 1000 piece jigsaw. This puzzle took up my entire dining room table while I was working on it.
The golf ball puzzle was easier to solve because it was a repeating pattern. This puzzle does have a repeat, but only the one, and I was only able to identify two pieces that were repeated. So this isn't really a strategy that you can use to solve it. It's also not much help to use the reference image, although I did find it helpful in some places at the very beginning.
So the way that I worked on the puzzle was to work off groups of three. At the start you have four corners available to work on, and as you add more pieces you have more to go on. I would remove a section of three pieces and then hold it over every piece that might fit in the space. As you can imagine this was a very slow process, especially at first! Some sessions I would only place two or three pieces.
There are some tiny areas of the puzzle which are almost black, so I was able to find some pieces that went together by looking for these. But almost all of the puzzle was put together one piece at a time. There is some distinction in the sizes of the pieces which helped a little bit - some of the rows were composed entirely of taller pieces and these were easier to spot.
Obviously putting together the puzzle does get easier as you go along, because you have fewer pieces to search through. The first quarter or so was the most difficult, but after that I did feel as though I was speeding up, and I definitely had more of a sense of which piece was more likely to fit in a certain place. The last quarter was when I really started to enjoy it!
I wrote recently about why I enjoy difficult jigsaw puzzles, and I definitely get a far greater sense of satisfaction when I put the final piece into a jigsaw like this!
I was convinced that I had missing pieces all the way through, so it was a relief to find that the jigsaw was complete. One the one hand, someone that has completed a jigsaw like this is a dedicated puzzler, and so they are likely to take good care of their puzzles. But on the other hand, it's the sort of puzzle that could have been left out on a table for months on end, with plenty of opportunity for pieces to go walkabout!
Of course it's a double-sided puzzle so I had to flip it over to see the sprouts side. This side of the puzzle also only has the one repeat, but I do think that it looks easier. There is a greater variation in the colours, you could probably pick out the lighter sections quite easily and I think it would be easier to pick out the individual pieces. I'll definitely be trying it at some point!
This is my current collection of 'impossible' puzzles. So far, along with this one I've completed the World's Most Difficult Jigsaw Puzzle - Kittens and the Double-Sided Impossipuzzle Golf Balls and Tees. I think I'm going to work on the Wildlife puzzle at the bottom next and then save the double-sided Smarties until last - that one really does look like a challenge!
The calendar may say that it's Autumn, but the weather seems to be taking a while to catch up this year! Nevertheless, today I'm sharing some of my favourite felt crafts for some Autumn and Halloween themed felt crafting.
Follow the links for full details of each craft!
Felt Autumn leaves
These embroidered felt Autumn leaves were really simple to make using scraps of felt and tiny beads. I've displayed them in several ways - in the past I have gathered them together in a shallow bowl, and this year I have strung them on a length of cord across the mantlepiece using tiny wooden pegs. They measure around 10cm in height and I had a lot of fun varying the colour combinations and embroidery details.
Halloween felt bunting with ribbon and buttons
This homemade Halloween felt bunting was a real craft supply de-stashing project. I used large felt triangles for the background, then I designed each pendant individually using scraps of felt, ribbon, beads and buttons. I love putting it out each Halloween, often with a few fairy lights.
Colourful stuffed felt sugar skulls
These felt sugar skull Halloween decorations are another great project to use up those crafty bits and pieces in your stash. The basic skull design can be decorated in all sorts of creative ways using beads, buttons, ribbons, sequins - all sorts of craft materials that you have lying around! They can be displayed in a bowl, lined up on a shelf, or you can add a small hanging loop. I chose white for the background, but you could make them in all sorts of colours and sizes.
Simple felt stuffed pumpkins for Autumn decor
These stuffed felt pumpkins were so simple and quick to sew together, and they look wonderful heaped together for an Autumn display. I used a gold cord which really sparkles, and you can really get creative with different colours and shades of felt.
Halloween felt garland bunting
This Halloween felt garland is so easy to make, it just takes a little bit of time to cut out all the tiny shapes! They are strung together using a sewing machine and embellished with sequins.
Make a monster felt kit for toddlers
Finally, this make a monster kit busy bag was one of the earliest crafts that I shared on this blog! All you need to do is cut out some monster themed shapes from felt, add in a few other bits and pieces, and you have a sweet little busy bag craft for your little ones!
Earlier this year I shared my experience working on the World's Most Difficult Jigsaw Puzzle - Kittens edition. This was a puzzle that I received as a gift when I was a teenager and had completed several times over the years. It's quite a challenge, although in my blog post I describe some ways to help solve it.
I love to browse charity shops for secondhand jigsaw puzzles, and so I thought I'd start keeping an eye out for some of the other puzzles in the series. There are loads and I have no intention of collecting them all, especially as many of the images don't really appeal to me - I'm not keen on cartoon puzzles and I'm selective about photographic puzzles. But I thought it would be nice to have a small collection of the ones with an image that I do like.
My Mum is helping with the hunt too, and she recently found me this one - Impossipuzzle Golf Balls and Tees. I've only solved the golf balls side which actually wasn't too difficult - however the tees side looks very challenging!
Recently I had a very successful charity shop haul and picked up another three puzzles to add to my growing collection. Two are from the World's Most Difficult Jigsaw Puzzle series and my favourite is an image entirely composed of Smarties. I passed over this one in a charity shop a couple of years ago and later regretted it, so I was really pleased to find another one. The other puzzle is similar to the kittens jigsaw and features a variety of different animals.
The third puzzle I bought is also from the Impossipuzzle series, and it's the one that I decided to start with. Baked Beans on one side and Brussels Sprouts on the other! It's very much a puzzle that needs to be fully shape sorted and completed piece by piece, so it's going to be my jigsaw companion for a little while yet.
I was working on it last night, placing a piece every five to ten minutes or so, and my son asked me whether I was actually enjoying it. Usually he sees me work on jigsaws with a pleasant picture that aren't too difficult and can be completed in a couple of days.
I realised that yes, even though it's very slow going and can be frustrating at times, working on a more difficult puzzle like this is really enjoyable. When you place a piece in any jigsaw you can get a small dopamine hit, but when you place a piece in a difficult jigsaw it's even more satisfying. And when it's finally completed you really feel as though you've achieved something that not everyone can (or would want to!) do.
When I'm putting together the puzzle I can really feel my brain working, and I feel that my skills have improved over time. If I have the chance to work uninterrupted then I can enter a 'flow state' and it helps me to feel calmer.
I'm definitely not going to be exclusively working on 'impossible' jigsaw puzzles from now on, but if I spot one that appeals then I'll be picking it up to work on at some point!
Today I'm sharing another craft from my recent personal challenge to complete five batch prepped craft projects. This is my third craft - some simple stuffed felt pumpkins for Halloween.
My pumpkins were made using a free pattern and tutorial from The Yellow Birdhouse - DIY Felt Pumpkins with Free Printable Pattern. It's a simple pattern, easy to follow, and there are plenty of ways that you could customise it. For example, I may re-visit it in the future using bolder colours and printing the pattern in different sizes. This website is filled with beautiful patterns, both free and for sale, and I'll definitely be looking for more ideas when I'm next sorting through my felt stash!
For all of my batched projects I wanted to use only materials that I already owned. So I've used green felt for the leaves instead of fabric, and I chose a thick gold thread for the decoration instead of brown twine. I was a little limited by the colours of the felt that I have remaining in my stash - I've made a few felt Halloween crafts over the years! However, along with plenty of grey and brown felt, I had just enough shades of orange felt to sew together a third pumpkin.
This project does require quite a lot of stuffing - not a problem for me as I have plenty saved from old pillows, but worth noting if you want to try this craft. The pumpkins were very quick to work up, and I love working with felt. The pieces are simply sewn together, the pumpkin is stuffed, then the stalk and leaf are attached with a glue gun. I really like the extra thread that is wrapped around the pumpkin and I think that my leftover Christmas gold cord works really well for a bit of sparkle.
Another craft complete, and another tiny bit of space made in my craft stash cupboard!
Every day when I am at my desk I sit underneath my cross stitch map. I purchased this map some time ago so I'm not sure if it's still available, but it's made by Suck UK and it's the larger size. It's basically a large piece of stiff cross stitch fabric printed with a world map. The intention is that that you can fill in the places that you've visited by filling them in with cross stitch or other embroidery.
Of course, with 70% or so of the Earth being covered by water, this does leave quite a lot of blank space. There are also some very large countries that I'm unlikely to visit (Russia, Antarctica, quite a lot of Africa) so when you start to fill it out you soon realise that it's going to look rather empty.
I decided to take a creative approach to the cross stitch, so as well as filling in the countries that I've travelled to I also wanted to fill in the blank spaces with a montage of travel related images along with areas of blue for the sea. I added a large title to the top as well.
Some of the motifs I've designed myself, others I've found online or in my cross stitch pattern books.
The trouble is that I've not updated the map in some time. There are some countries that I've not yet filled in (including China - that will take up a bit of space!). I've also decided to completely fill out the US and Canada instead of just the states that I've visited, just to add a bit more green to the map. I'd like to fill out lots more of the background too, even if I just mark out some space for boxes to be filled in at a later date.
I'm thinking about creating a stronger outline for the countries so that they are more distinct from the background. I have some metallic thread, so that may work for this. I also have a multitude of beads and sequins in my stash that I could use to add a bit of extra interest.
So that's going to be my next long-term crafting project. The photo above is my starting point, let's see how much better I can make it look!
I've been doing a lot of crafting lately, and it has made me think about some of my craft habits which are a bit embarrassing to admit to!
Here are some of my crafting confessions:
* I own a huge box of washi tape, but I've only ever actually finished two rolls.
* I'm terrified of my sewing machine. I'm always convinced that it's going to suddenly stop working and I won't know what to do.
* Sometimes when I'm doing cross stitch I tie a knot to secure the thread rather than with a loop or by threading it under previous stitches.
* I can't thread my sewing machine or wind on a bobbin without referring to the instruction manual.
* I use my nice scissors for cutting unsuitable things - like tape, paper with glue on and wire.
* I don't wash out my watercolour palette after use, I just add new colours and water on top of the dried paint.
Photo credit Vitaly Gariev via Unsplash
* Despite being pretty bad at sewing projects I still buy gorgeous fabric and currently have a drawer full.
* I throw away small leftover pieces of felt from cutting out felt projects rather than saving them to use as stuffing.
* I have quite a big craft stash so I'm always reluctant to buy any craft materials, but sometimes a project would have turned out better if I had actually just bought the correct supplies.
* I have folders full of lovely patterned papers but I very rarely do any paper crafting, it's just so pretty.
* I also have a folder of beautiful images that I've cut from magazines, with no intended purpose.
* I love to collect stickers and I still add to my vintage Year 8 sticker album from the 90s. On my recent holiday to Japan I purchased a second sticker album to hold all the beautiful stickers that I brought home and I spent a lovely evening arranging them nicely.
I watched the video through a few times before I began, and I worked out exactly how many beads I would need of each colour. Then I gathered all my supplies together ready to work on.
This is the first time that I've tried a beading craft with wire, and I will say that I did not find it as easy as I expected. It took me several attempts and a long time, to produce my beaded fish, and I had to undo my work many times. I changed the sequin that I used for the eyes to a larger one, and because my beads aren't all uniform sizes he has come out a little wonky.
Once I had got the hang of it I progressed quickly, and I think that I could probably make another one very easily. But this craft didn't really appeal to me, so I don't think I'll be making any more. I'll be looking for some other crafting options next time when it comes to de-stashing my beads!
I used slightly larger beads than the ones used in this tutorial so I cut myself a longer piece of wire which was a good move because I very nearly ran out.
Here are the exact quantities of beads that are needed for one beaded fish using this tutorial:
Tail - 10 (orange)
Mouth - 4 (red)
Colour 1 - 44 (green)
Colour 2 - 28 (gold)
Colour 3 - 19 (silver)
Eyes - 2 (black)
You also need:
2 round sequins for the eyes
1 jump ring (and pliers to open and close it)
1 keychain attachment
A length of wire, I used a 1m, which is thin enough to pass twice through the centre of each bead
This is a fun and meditative craft project, and if you have beads in lots of different colours you could easily and quickly bead up a whole aquarium. But for now I'm just going to enjoy my one beaded fish!
This Autumn I have challenged myself to work on five different craft projects, which I batch prepped back in August ready to work on when I had the chance.
Welcome to the first completed craft project!
These Autumn themed stretch beaded bracelets are a really simple project that I had been putting off for a long time. Most of these basic coloured beads were purchased on our last trip to the US - which was nearly two years ago. I added them to my bead stash and just didn't get around to using them which was a real shame because in the end it took me just one evening to make this set of eight simple bracelets.
Here are the supplies which I gathered together to make the bracelets, along with some superglue for finishing. The beads that I bought were sold in long strings and mixed together, so I had to sort out the different shapes and colours, but luckily that didn't take too long. Then I went through my remaining bead stash and pulled out a selection of beads that were similar sizes and matched my Autumn colour scheme of red, orange, brown, green and gold.
For stringing bracelets I always use Stretch Magic 0.7mm which works perfectly. It's a clear plastic stretch cord which fits most smaller beads and is really easy to tie tightly. I've never had a problem with it breaking.
This project is about working through my stash, so I made an effort to prioritise smaller quantities of beads that I could use up. I didn't have much of a plan apart from that, other than picking beads that looked good together and trying to space the more decorative beads evenly, like the gorgeous gold rose beads.
I also made a couple of 'filler' bracelets that use random combinations of smaller beads, a great way to use up the odd beads.
To finish a stretch beaded bracelet you just need to tie a few tight knots in the elastic and then add a small blob of superglue. Cut away the loose ends, and the knot should be pretty much hidden by the beads.
Eight bracelets felt like the perfect number - I love how they all overlap as you move around, and so it looks different every time you look at it.
I'm really pleased with them and I'm so happy that these stashed beads are finally seeing the light of day. I'm planning to wear them a lot this Autumn!
If you liked these bracelets then you might also like my ocean themed stretch beaded bracelets which are very similar but using blues, greens, and pretty sea glass style beads. I still have plenty of beads left in my stash, so I'll soon be planning some more sets in different colour combinations!
A little while ago I shared a video that had caught my attention about batch prepping craft projects like you do meals. I loved the idea of planning out a craft in advance and getting everything that you need ready so that you can get started when you have the chance.
I set myself a challenge to batch prep five craft projects, using supplies that I already own from my craft stash, and to complete them by the end of the year. September always feels like a good time to start new things, and so here are the five craft projects that I've put together. There are a couple of Christmas ones, so that will help with my self-imposed deadline!
Autumnal beaded bracelets
I have had the supplies for this for so long, it's been about two years since I picked up a string of beads on holiday and thought they would be perfect for some bracelets in Autumn colours. I've sorted them by colour and also hunted through my bead stash for other beads which fit the theme.
Beaded fish key rings
A second beading craft, because I definitely need to make a dent in my beading supply stash. I came across this craft in an article I was reading about alternatives to doom scrolling - the author had made a huge pile of them! I've watched a video tutorial online to make sure that it's something I can attempt, and luckily I already have some wire and the clasp. When I was watching the video I counted up how many beads are needed of each colour and gathered them all together.
This is the video tutorial that I'll be using:
The gorgeous tiny cat plate was a souvenir from Kappabashi Street in Tokyo, isn't it lovely!
Christmas fabric gift bags
I have had some Christmas fabric lying around for far to long, and I've had no clue what to do with it. It's nice but it's not really my favourite, and I don't even remember buying it. So I've decided to make some drawstring gift bags to hold groups of smaller gifts under the Christmas tree. I love making drawstring bags, they are so easy, and very forgiving if your seams aren't quite straight, I don't even line them. I also have a pile of Christmas ribbon and cotton in various colours to use up from my stash.
So in my tub I have five pieces of Christmas fabric, a co-ordinating ribbon for each, and some coloured cotton which I will use in my sewing machine.
Christmas mug rugs or coasters
I saved some of the Christmas fabric, along with a few other co-ordinating pieces from my fabric stash, to make some Christmas themed mug rugs.
This is the pattern that I'm intending to use - Super Simple Mug Rug Tutorial for Beginners. To make each 5" by 5" mug rug you need four strips of different fabrics each measuring 2 1/2" by 6" which you then cut in half. So when I was preparing the fabric for my Christmas gift bags I chose my two favourite fabrics and cut a strip from each to use, along with other matching fabrics from my stash. I intend to make four mug rugs.
I really hate measuring and cutting fabric, so having it all ready to go will definitely make me more likely to start the project! Both fabric projects are now stored next to my ironing board, so next time I am ironing I will iron the fabric pieces too.
Felt pumpkins for Halloween
For my final project I had my eye on my felt stash. I wanted to make something that used up quite a bit of felt (I have a whole drawer full!) and that was also something seasonal. I decided to have a go at some felt pumpkins and I found this tutorial to use which comes with a free pattern - DIY Felt Pumpkins with free printable pattern.
My only problem is that I don't have much orange felt in my stash! So I pulled out some pieces in other seasonal colours which I'm hoping will work. I'm also using green felt for the leaf instead of fabric and I'll be using gold twine - I'm making sure that all my materials for these projects come from my extensive craft supply stash.
I have gone ahead and cut out the felt pieces - which is always the most off-putting part of any fiddly felt project - and I have the stuffing stored close by. So it's all ready to go!
Those are my five batch prepped crafts, I'll share updates as I complete them!
